Dr.-Ing. Gero Kempf

Dr.-Ing. Gero Kempf, Chief Engineer Body Strategy, Architecture, Advanced Product Creation of Jaguar Land Rover Ltd., Rosenheim, spoke on the topic "Renaissance of Jaguar and Land Rover. How technologies create captivating products.".

The origins of the Jaguar brand date back to 1922, when the company was known as the "Swallow Sidecar Company" and produced sidecars for motorcycles. It was only when one of the co-founders, William Lyons, began to manufacture automobiles that the company was renamed Jaguar after the Second World War. Even then, the company produced luxury sedans and sports cars. The legendary Jaguar XK120 was particularly successful. Today, Jaguar Land Rover is the largest car manufacturer in the UK. The company comprises the brands Land Rover, a world leader in premium four-wheel drive vehicles, and Jaguar, a world leader in luxury and sports vehicles. With its 26,000 employees, the company has a turnover of over 19 million pounds. Since the acquisition of the brands by Tata Motors Limited in 2008, Jaguar Land Rover has been transforming the business to realize the full potential of both brands and deliver a positive result.

Mr. Dr.-Ing. Gero Kempf is responsible for Strategy, Architecture and New Product Concepts at Jaguar Land Rover in the Body division. He joined Jaguar Land Rover in August 2015 as Chief Engineer Body Strategy. Dr. Kempf brings 23 years of experience in automotive development at BMW in the areas of complete vehicle, design, electrification, electronics, lightweight technologies and production integration. He has worked mainly from Germany, with partners in the USA, UK, China and Japan. He received his Dr.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and his Dipl. Phys. degree from the Technical University of Munich.

Status: Beginning of 2016